Logical Net: Growing by Doing Good — continued

Through local partners, the company still charges $19.95 per month, but $4 of that monthly payment go to a local charity. Logical Net is working with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region (the capital of New York state is Albany), and, though the nearby Guilderland Chamber of Commerce, the Guilderland YMCA, Hope House, and Community Care Givers.

Logical Net pays the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce $1 per month per paying subscriber. It's all about personal relationships developed over a long period of time. "Our director of sales has a strong relationship with the chamber," admits Nikollaj.

The charities are happy about the partnership. "This really is a win-win situation for everyone involved," says Angela Dixon, Big Brother Big Sister's Capital Region Executive Director in a press release. "We get funding to help our kids, consumers get affordable Internet service, and Logical Net gets an expanded customer base."

Adds Nikollaj, "chances are, many of these people would never write a $50 check to these organizations on a national basis. We're handling the administration, and the end user gets a tax deduction."

Charities are facing tough times in a tough economy. They lack basic resources and cannot roll out a project like this for themselves. "Some organizations have just a skeleton crew now," confirms Nikollaj. "The first question is usually, 'how much work do I have to put into this' and our answer is, just insert a blurb in your newsletters and put a link on your website."

On the back end, Logical Net has built a system that allows each organization to track how many subscribers it has signed up, and to allow the Guilderland chamber to track all its subscribers while allowing the various Guilderland charities to view only their subscribers.

For the future, Nikollaj is looking forward to expanding to other local organizations, and perhaps nationwide too. The ISP has VISP access to a nationwide infrastructure, and can therefore provide service almost anywhere in the U.S. The company is also working on an e-mail marketing application that will help the charities market the charitable dialup effectively and responsibly.

Meanwhile, perhaps not coincidentally, business services are selling well. "The conversation is very different than it used to be," says Nikollaj. After high profile failures like that of Digital Broadband have made customers skeptical.

"We get questions about what we do, and our financial health. These companies that have failed them already hurt smaller ISPs not just from a pricing pressure point. ISPs end up having to explain someone else's stupid actions."

But since it's been in business for a decade, which is a long time in this industry, the conversation usually goes well. Nikollaj expects that business service will provide an ever larger share of the company's revenue, rising from 40 percent now to perhaps 60 percent in the future.

So, in a way, the business plan didn't change, it just evolved. There are lessons here for every ISP in the U.S., but although they are easily understood, they will be difficult to implement.

—End

< Back to page one